CHINA S first Challenger 605 aircraft landed at Shenzhen International Airport on Saturday.
The jet was produced by Bombardier Aerospace in Canada and flown to Shenzhen from Jeju Island in South Korea.
Donghai Jet Co., which bought the plane, said it would buy another five Challenger 300s from Bombardier by October next year. The total value of the order was about US$121 million.
The company planned to buy about 30 luxury business jets in five years, company president Huang Chubiao said.
There are fewer than 60 business jets in China, far from enough to meet market demand. Because Shenzhen plans to promote a headquarter economy and a modern service industry in Qianhai, the market for business jets will grow sharply in the future, Huang said.
According to a study by Bombardier in July, China is expected to have more than 600 business jets by 2019.
A normal commercial jet costs 40,000 to 60,000 yuan (US$6,030-9,040) an hour during flight, while a six-hour return trip from Shenzhen to Beijing is about 240,000 to 360,000 yuan for a business jet. Many high-level people, particularly company owners and celebrities, have shown an interest in business jets for privacy and an independent schedule, said Wang Guixiang, executive president of the company.
Companies or individuals with private jets could also ask Donghai to maintain their aircraft, Wang said. We can provide a base, operations, repairs and maintenance, he said.
Based at Shenzhen International Airport, the company will soon begin building an 88,000-square-meter air base with Donghai Airlines. An aircraft maintenance center, training center and freight center will be built in two years, the company said.
(Wang Yuanyuan)
